Night Sympathy
by blood of the ninja
Summary: Short Ravage story. G1. R&R please.


Night Sympathy

To: my brother, cause it's his senior year and he likes anything to do with Soundwave.

AN: thanks to Shatterstar for the title. And to Scream for agreeing with it.

The moon reigned the sky by the time I found a way outside, away from the clamor and vicious glares of the other Decepticons. Soundwave had kept us inactive for more weeks than was necessary, but he had been worried. We mean more to him than he shows. Everyone knows Soundwave's tapes have a special place with him, but he would suffer greatly if one of us was terminated. So, when Rumble, Lazerbeak, and Frenzy had decided to go off on their own, basically run away like the idiots they are, Soundwave reacted with placid understanding. Not that they didn't have a reason to leave. They'd blown up one of the storage buildings and flooded another, but didn't want to take the punishment. Unfortunately for them, they were reprimanded anyway. Not by any Decepticon, but the Autobots who happened to find them hiding in an abandoned warehouse and blow them to bits.

I wasn't attempting to flee like my brothers, if that's what you think of me. I merely needed time to myself. Four weeks helping you inferior intellected siblings regain their strength is trying on one's body and patience.

The land flowed beneath me, rocky and free of tall vegetation. Before long, ancient fir trees began to shoot up among the younger foliage, offering me the terrain I relish. Setting down gently on the carpet of dried needles, I began to revel in the invisibility I could produce on myself with the aid of night and shadow. Despite my characteristic indifference, I couldn't resist and rolled in the dead leaves and needles coating the forest floor. I buried my olfactory sensors in the rich, brown material. I was a creature, not longer a Transformer with a war weighing on my head, the death of hundreds mauling my thoughts, brothers who suffered at the moment. I was an animal; an eating, wild, filthy, rutting beast.

This is my guilty pleasure. Alone in the night I become nothing more than an invincible house cat, playing with the giant cat nip ball of another creatures life. Only Soundwave knows about my visits in the nighted forest, never commenting on the stench I bring back, nor judging the innocent blood on my muzzle. That's why I respect him and why I may never leave him.

For many hours I stalked the shadows of my play kingdom, living as I had before the war on Cybertron. Free to roam with out the thought of Autobots loaming on my mind. It was the paradise I always dream of.

Then I smelled it; car exhaust, a human vehicle, not the nearly undetectable stench of an Autobot, but not the soaked, dull scent of a multi-laned highway. Unable to resist, I followed it deeper into the woods, further down the deserted dirt road the scent followed. An underlying aroma, imperceptible at first, began to strengthen, but eluded a name, until I came upon the scene. Two limp human bodies slumped in the front seat of a ruined car. I hesitated, the smell of death was absent, but there's a general unspoken rule of avoiding humans, unless they serve a purpose. A groan of an unconscious person becoming alert stuck in my head, the noise repeatedly stabbing my thoughts.

I had last heard this emission of pain from Frenzy as he awoke from with his body pounding in agony. Had I heartstrings, they would have at least been tickled. I crept to the driver side door which hung open and crooked. The driver's breath came in uneasy gusts, his hair tussled and sticky with blood. He wasn't a handsome youth, slightly rotund and a scrunched face, empty, at the moment, of emotion. The second human was young boy, sharing similar features of the older male, although he didn't possess the roundness in his cheeks as the other did. The boy, buckled into his seat was beginning to revive.

Pressed to make a decision, I sent out an emergency signal to Soundwave. He would know what to do, he always know the answers. His response came immediately, as did his answer after I explained my situation.

"Engaging is not suggested," his voice thru the radio seemed especially without sympathy, "Proceed as you wish."

I turned to regard the pair once more before I left them to die, when the boy locked eyes with my optics. His raw terror and boundless hope grabbed me by the neck and began to throttle. I couldn't leave them when I saw such a clear image of Frenzy suffering before the Autobots dismantled him for Soundwave to find and gather later.

My choice was clear. I would help these fleshlings, despite the reputation we've gathered, despite my best judgment, despite what Soundwave had told me.

I sent one more emergency beacon; this time to the only creatures I thought could arrive in time to help them. For thirty minutes I waited for them to appear, sitting where the driver's door had once been, blocking the car's occupants from the frozen wind that had picked up. I did what I could to turn off the still running car, not wanting it to explode or do anything unpredictable. My mind began to wander. How had these two ended with this crushed car, in the middle of the night? The road didn't appear icy, there were no animal or other tire tracks that looked as thought they had avoided something.

I was perplexed until; at last, the sound of vehicles rumbled to my audios, I hid myself in the nearby trees, not willing to leave my temporary charges until I was sure they would receive help. An ambulance, sports utility vehicle, and green, driverless jeep stopped next to the car I protected. The three transformed and cautiously began to remove the two humans. I watched, regaining my disinterest. Letting the three Autobots take with the flesh creatures the worry and concern I had formed for them. I was again a Decepticon, the Decepti-kitty. I left that place deep in the forest, empty of human civilization, free of the Transformer taint that is slowly engulfing this planet. I left and have yet to return. I don't know if I can ever go back, back to the place of my weakness.


End file.
